‘Exceptional Nurse’ Mary Wilson voted East Riding’s NHS Star

Advanced Practitioner Mary Wilson has scooped the public award for her outstanding care for patients in the East Riding of Yorkshire NHS Star Awards.

Pocklington patient Sue Anthony nominated Mary for the award saying:

“If I had to sum up Mary in a few words they would be that she is gentle, supportive, thorough, reliable, helpful and professional.  She always gives at the highest possible level of care and is an exceptional nurse.  She has gone out of her way to pick up medication for me from Bridlington, has rung up outside of office hours to see how I am getting on with my treatment and always treats me as a person and not a case.  I believe that Mary really is an NHS star.”

Mary works from Beverley Westwood Hospital, covering the Bridlington and Wolds communities as part of a specialist team of three nurses with a healthcare assistant. She said:

“I was very touched to be nominated for the public award by Sue. On home visits, we always take time to talk to patients about the day to day management of their condition, to see what we can do as health professionals to make life easier. It is a very rewarding part of the job.”

The NHS Star Awards formed part of the NHS East Riding of Yorkshire Community Services Review of the Year event which took place in Driffield recently.  The health care ‘Stars’ recognised for the excellent contribution to patient care in the East Riding are as follows:

Kim Clark, Senior Nurse, Goole and Howdenshire Neighbourhood Care Team, Goole Health Centre,
Member of staff making an outstanding contribution to improving health and/or reducing health inequalities in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Kim identified the need to develop a Parkinsons Disease support group within the Goole and Howdenshire locality.  Kim initiated the introduction of the group with the support of colleagues from the Neighbourhood Care Team and therapy colleagues from the local hospital trust.  The group has supported patients/carers within the Goole & Howdenshire area with Parkinson’s Disease and strengthened working relationships with colleagues from the acute sector.

Maggie Bean – Community Matron for Bridlington
Member of staff making an outstanding contribution to the development and/or strengthening of community services.
Maggie was nominated by two colleagues for her total commitment and hard work for the development of the Unscheduled Care Team and her expertise in managing her caseload of patients with long term conditions.  Maggie has made a tremendous difference to both staff and patients. The patients feel reassured and helped by the helpline, regular telephone calls and visits from Maggie, which in turn prevents unnecessary hospital admissions.  Colleagues say Maggie is passionate about her work, she is always there for all the team and deserves recognition.

Angela Lewis, Locality Matron Children and Young People
Member of staff making an outstanding contribution to the achievement of key performance targets and/or financial balance.
Angela has worked tirelessly to make staff aware of the National Child Measurement Programme and achieving the national targets. She has co-ordinated information between health and the local authority and has sought to deliver the programme on time, in the best possible manner. As well as advising and reassuring parents, she has also worked hard to ensure staff are kept updated about progress and has showered them with thanks for their efforts.

Jo McNeil, Hospital Matron, Beverley Westwood Hospital
Member of staff making an outstanding contribution to achieving high standards of care, underpinned by sound clinical and corporate governance arrangements.
Jo has made changes to the ward at Beverley Westwood which has seen patient satisfaction surveys improve in all areas, but particularly in privacy and dignity. She has involved all staff and promoted a whole team approach. She has done this by hard work and continues to bring about changes which are necessary. Colleagues say the ward would not be where it is now without her.

Susan Davies, Neighbourhood Care Team Administrator, Bridlington
Member of staff making an exceptional contribution to innovation and/or service and workforce redesign.
Since Susan joined the Bridlington Neighbourhood Care Team six months ago and she has become key to the ongoing success of the team.  She has maximised the capabilities of SystmOne software through her ongoing enthusiasm for IT and team development.  This has led to Bridlington patients now benefiting from a Single Point of Contact. Susan has a calm, professional, but friendly manner, and she provides patients with advice and support to manage their daily health and social care needs. Susan has now taken away much of the administration allowing clinicians more time to spend with their patients.

Charlie Chidlow, School Nurse
Member of staff making an outstanding contribution towards improving staff morale and public confidence in the organisation’s effectiveness.
Charlie has spearheaded the campaign to deliver the accelerated HPV campaign to four years of school girls across the East Riding, achieving fantastic success.  She is enthusiastic and hugely motivating with a keen desire to keep things ‘moving’.  She was a great support in the Swine Flu campaign and is a real bonus to the child health team.  She is an excellent resource for information and is a great support for students, colleagues and managers.

Ann Blencoe, Team Leader, Hessle Primary Care Centre
Member of staff making an outstanding contribution towards engaging people in the design and development of local services.
Ann is described as an exceptional team leader who has planned and organised the service redesign of the Neighbourhood Care Team in Haltemprice.
The service has been re-configured to deliver seamless care across district nursing, intermediate care and long term conditions. Ann has had to consider staffing, caseloads, workload, team changes, SystmOne software, geography, new roles and responsibilities, staff training needs and GP practice needs. All is going well thanks to Ann’s attention to detail.

Effective Interdisciplinary Working Team
Team of the Year Award
This team represents a range of disciplines across community nursing. It has provided excellent leadership and support to the roll out of the new shared electronic patient assessment process for Neighbourhood Care Teams. This approach has set a high standard locally and has meant a great leap forward in patient care in the East Riding.

Jean Oxley, Director of Operations for NHS East Riding of Yorkshire Community Services, said:

“Our NHS Star awards are an opportunity for colleagues, patients, carers and the public to show how much they value the work of community health staff. Whether it is on the frontline or in a supporting role, we are proud to recognise these dedicated and professional people for the positive impact they have on patient experience in the East Riding.”